Airbus Defence & Space and Singapore’s Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA) have developed data models to support sustainment of the air-to-air refuelling system on the A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT).
The models help analyse the performance of the refuelling system based on data produced during flight, says Airbus.
In addition, they could assist the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) with predictive maintenance, and thus increase aircraft availability.
“With this new data analytics model, we are further strengthening our comprehensive performance-based services and focusing on predictive maintenance for the RSAF A330 MRTT,” says Geraldine Thiercelin of Airbus Defence & Space.
“Through our partnership with DSTA, we will be able to identify and anticipate non-standard aircraft behaviours prior to future failures, thereby increasing the availability of the RSAF MRTT fleet in various theatres of operation.”
Singapore is an important Asia-Pacific operator of the A330 MRTT, with six examples in service. It has also been active in Airbus’s efforts to develop an automatic aerial refuelling system for the type.
In October 2023, Airbus said that an RSAF MRTT had completed a series of flight evaluations for an automated aerial refuelling system, having successfully made more than 500 wet and dry contacts with the RSAF’s full inventory of receiver aircraft.
